Ratings 10/28  
Ratings (October 28)

Football, ironically, is less a game of feet than it is of inches, insteps and ankles. Clemson lost on a last second fingertip grab, which mattered only because of two very short missed field goals (what is it with the Bowdens and kickers?). Northwestern remained in the Rose Bowl hunt with a Hail Mary tip play, with the receiver carefully getting both feet down before tumbling out of the end zone into the field of play. Both Virginia Tech and Clemson will be hurt in their big games this week by Heisman Trophy candidates with bad ankles.

The Oklahoma-Nebraska game should have answered all questions ... for a couple of weeks. Oklahoma is #1; the 4 point margin in the computer rankings is as large as I've ever seen this late in the season. As for the Heisman, if you don't have Josh Heupel penciled in you've put the wrong chemicals in your Vicks inhaler. Of course, Oklahoma has a road game left at Texas A&M and a likely rematch against Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game. If you still don't think Oklahoma and Heupel are for real, you might think back to last year's NFL champions Rams and Kurt Warner.

It may surprise you that Virginia Tech is now rated above Miami. The Miami 34-21 win over Louisiana Tech did not impress the computer much. While La Tech is better than most of the Bayou teams, they're pretty bad (Penn State beat them by 60). We'll see if that's a sign of looking ahead to Virginia Tech or a sign that they're not playing well. Speaking of the Louisiana teams, scroll down to the bottom of the rankings and get set for this week's game between La-Monroe and La-Lafayette. These schools used to be called Northeast and Southwest Louisiana, respectively, before changing their names and going Division I-A. Their battle for worst in the country is this week; anybody want to go see the movie Waterboy?

This week's two big games aren't as big as they might have been, thanks to Clemson's loss and Vick's ankle. The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home team. The Michigan-Northwestern and Oregon-Washington State games are the biggest games this week in the run for the Rose Bowl.

Miami by 4 over Virginia Tech
Florida State by 15 over Clemson
Northwestern by 2 over Michigan
Oregon by 16 over Washington State
Oklahoma by 34 over Baylor
Duke by 1 over Wake Forest
La-Monroe by 6 over La-La

1 Oklahoma 68.18
2 Florida State 64.23
3 Nebraska 63.85
4 Florida 61.37
5 Virginia Tech 59.71
6 Washington 59.51
7 Oregon 59.5
8 Miami F 59.31
9 Kansas State 56.85
10 Ohio State 56.72
11 Oregon State 56.22
12 Purdue 56
13 Notre Dame 55.99
14 Texas A&M 55.96
15 Michigan 55.74
16 Mississippi State 54.03
17 Northwestern 53.82
18 Western Michigan 53.53
19 Clemson 53.47
20 UCLA 52.8
21 TCU 52.58
22 Wisconsin 51.67
23 South Carolina 51.24
24 Georgia 51.22
25 Arizona 51.11
26 Tennessee 50.75
27 Auburn 50.68
28 Arizona State 50.57
29 Georgia Tech 50.44
30 Southern Miss 49.8
31 LSU 49.7
32 Texas 49.57
33 Iowa State 48.47
34 Colorado State 48.42
35 Texas El Paso 48.04
36 NC State 48.01
37 Toledo 47.73
38 West Virginia 47.07
39 Minnesota 46.72
40 Louisville 46.55
41 Pittsburgh 45.99
42 Boston College 45.25
43 Northern Illinois 44.73
44 Texas Tech 44.58
45 Michigan State 44.48
46 East Carolina 43.99
47 Stanford 43.74
48 Fresno State 43.74
49 Southern Cal 43.44
50 Illinois 43.41
51 Arkansas 43.02
52 UAB 42.88
53 Penn State 42.63
54 Alabama 42.57
55 Mississippi 42.51
56 Boise State 42.51
57 San Jose State 42.07
58 Syracuse 41.55
59 California 41.36
60 Kansas 41.18
61 Colorado 40.49
62 Virginia 40.29
63 Air Force 40.22
64 Ohio 40.01
65 UNLV 39.81
66 Washington State 39.62
67 Indiana 39.6
68 New Mexico 39.37
69 Central Florida 38.81
70 Maryland 37.88
71 Temple 37.69
72 BYU 37.53
73 Cincinnati 36.11
74 North Carolina 36.06
75 Kentucky 35.87
76 Iowa 35.53
77 Memphis 34.93
78 Marshall 34.6
79 Utah 33.38
80 Idaho 33.28
81 San Diego State 32.87
82 New Mexico State 32.71
83 Missouri 32.65
84 Rice 32.12
85 Akron 31.64
86 Middle Tennessee 31.17
87 Utah State 30.9
88 Houston 30.43
89 Baylor 30.17
90 Miami O 29.94
91 Rutgers 29.8
92 Oklahoma State 29.78
93 Vanderbilt 29.61
94 Tulane 28.16
95 Tulsa 27.89
96 Ball State 27.51
97 Louisiana Tech 25.25
98 SMU 25.04
99 Navy 24.16
100 Nevada 23.23
101 Duke 23.17
102 North Texas 22.59
103 Army 22.17
104 Bowling Green 21.42
105 Arkansas State 21.23
106 Connecticut 20.78
107 Hawaii 20.76
108 Wyoming 20.72
109 Eastern Michigan 18.59
110 Wake Forest 17.17
111 Kent 17.14
112 Central Michigan 16.76
113 Louisiana Monroe 12.92
114 Buffalo 11.45
115 Louisiana Lafayette 11.13